Death on the Rocks by Eric Wright

Author:Eric Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC022000
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2002-05-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Greta’s company occupied space on the ground floor of a warehouse at Adelaide and Spadina, and Greta suggested that they meet in the coffee bar on the same floor. “It’s only just opened, so we are all trying to bring it business to keep it here.”

Lucy gave Greta an account of what she had learned so far and asked about her mother’s sister.

Greta said, “I meant to mention her when we were talking about great uncles and whatnot. She disappeared before I was born. I don’t think she even went to the wedding. My mother never talked about her. If I asked her, she just said her sister had cut herself off. I’ve never given her much thought — just an aunt I was supposed to have had once, who didn’t get along with my mother.” She drank some carrot juice and made a face. “My guess is that she is in Europe somewhere now. Certainly not in Canada, or she would have seen the report of Mother’s death. ‘Canadian woman shot in Florida motel’ was a big story for a couple of weeks, and surely she would have responded. Made sure I was all right. The only one who did get in touch was Jim McSweeney from the island. What’s more likely, if she’s still alive, is that she doesn’t know her sister is dead. Even if she lives in England, the death of a Canadian woman in Florida isn’t likely to make The Daily Mirror, is it?

She looked up. In the doorway a young woman was signalling agitatedly. Greta pointed at her watch to indicate she would be there shortly. “Crisis,” she said. “Got to go soon. Meanwhile I’ve been busy. I’ve talked to three other people I would call mother’s most recent friends, including, my dear, her last lover. Isn’t that something? I had no idea that they were lovers. I had no idea back then that people that age had lovers. He was her closest friend’s husband, and they used to meet once a week in a little room behind his shop.”

“What kind of shop?”

“Antique books. On King Street. This affair lasted more than twenty years, from the time my mother was about my age, until she died. Once a week in a little room behind the shop. God. She visited him like she visited a masseur.”

“For her health?”

“Exactly. No, that’s not fair. Mr. Lockhart got quite — well — moved, when we were talking about her. I asked him if there was ever any chance that he might have left his wife and married my mother, and he said he wanted to, and asked her more than once. His wife’s dead now — I gather the marriage wasn’t very lively, and yet there was no question of his leaving. Apparently Ma always said that if he breathed a word about them, to his wife or anyone else, she would make his life absolute bloody hell. She didn’t say how, but he believed her; I think she must have been a control freak.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.